Manipulations of the Mind II: Lost
by Diana Alexander
Summary: Scully's trapped inside the walls of the Project...


DISCLAIMER: The characters in this piece of fiction that are  
recognizable from Chris Carter's insane piece of work known as  
the X-Files belong to him, his company Ten-Thirteen Productions  
and Fox Broadcasting. Anything else, characters, situations or  
otherwise, belong to this very insane author.  
RATING: PG-13  
CLASSIFICATION: SA  
KEYWORDS: Mulder/Scully UST  
SPOILERS: none  
URL: troublexf.homepage.com/dalexander/manipulate/mind02.txt  
FEEDBACK: always welcome at dmulder@flashmail.com  
ARCHIVE: Anywhere's fine... Gossamer, Xemplary, Ephemeral,  
yeah... whatever... *grin*  
SUMMARY: Scully's trapped inside the walls of the Project...   
  
********************************  
Manipulations of the Mind: Lost  
(Part 1 of 1)  
by: Diana Alexander  
dmulder@flashmail.com  
********************************  
  
For one moment, Scully had stood in one of the many hallways  
that delved into the Compound before she was thrown back into a  
body that knew little else other than pain. Even before she was  
truly aware of herself again, she mourned the loss. Yet, as time  
passed, she thought about what she had seen before being thrown  
back.  
  
The compound itself seemed to be built into a labyrinth so that no  
one who even managed to get out of the various rooms without  
windows anywhere would never be able to find the light of day.  
They knew that that would be the first thing that anyone held  
captive here would want.  
  
So, in their fashion, they devised the most subtle torture so far.  
They deprive their victims of even the most basic joys of basking  
in sunlight, laughing while rain poured over their face, leaving the  
hair soaked with the water, and just breathing fresh air. All they  
had here were florescent lights, recycled air, and pain.  
  
And almost as though they realised that one of their latest victims  
had escaped their pain-cycle and was caught in something pure,  
something innocent, they sought to take it away. The spirits of  
Mulder and Scully had stood in the hallway, enjoying laughter,  
hysterical though it may be, about the situation they had managed  
to get themselves into.  
  
A moment that had been stolen from their desperate need to get  
out of this place, and if they had had to leave their bodies behind,  
they would have done so without a second thought.  
  
Instead, after that moment of laughter there was pain. Pain jolted  
through her astral form, and even as she felt it, her body, the body  
she had been wearing since leaving her own, shuddered and  
started to fade. She was flickering, almost like she had suddenly  
become a candle that was about to be extinguished.  
  
[Mulder... something's wrong...]   
  
The words managed to escape her mind past the fear, and he  
looked at her. There was a look of sheer terror that crossed his  
face as he grasped her hips with both hands and concentrated  
although by sheer willpower he could keep her here. Keep her  
out of the hands of those who sought to hurt her. Hurt them.  
  
She fed on his willpower to try and keep her there, and for a  
moment, she thought that it had worked, but then she was gone,  
diving back into a body that knew nothing but pain. and in that  
return, the only thing keeping her from losing herself in the nearly  
inhuman pain was this connection that she and Mulder had.  
  
This connection... it was strange, but it felt all at once newly  
formed and yet something that had been with her most of her life.  
She gave herself a mental scowl because of the contradictory  
feelings she had about it, but then, conventional science didn't  
really have an explanation for anything she had experienced since  
this began.  
  
That's when another jolt of pain hit Scully, and deep within herself,  
she searched for an escape. That's when she found that the snap  
that she and Mulder had felt wasn't a true one. Their connection  
was still there, but she had put up a subconscious shielding against  
the pain she was in. Even now, she was trying to protect him.  
  
With an inaudible sigh, Scully felt her awareness drifted to the  
surface, and she heard people talking above her, and about her.  
  
"...finished with him..." the words flickered in and out, "...do with  
him?"  
  
"Dump him on the street."  
  
That voice was clear. Scully could almost feel her eyes narrowing  
as she listened. It was that Cigarette Smoking Bastard, and the  
knowledge drove her to listen even more carefully to the words  
being spoken.  
  
"What if he doesn't survive?"  
  
"He'll survive."  
  
There was a silence before words that were spoken that drove  
Scully back into the connection that existed between herself and  
Mulder.  
  
"Shall I start the impregnation?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
***************  
  
"Storm?"  
  
Storm Austin shook herself awake and away from the dream that  
she'd had. It was like she had been inside Dana's head, and had  
had the opportunity to see exactly what was causing Mulder's  
pain. An attempt to snap a connection, perhaps? An attempt that  
obviously didn't work.  
  
A scowl crossed her face briefly. They had no idea what they  
were dealing with, and if they messed with it any more, she didn't  
know if either one of the two would survive it, especially since  
they were apart. It seemed like a year ago that they had found  
Mulder outside of Arrow's Crossing after everyone else had been  
long asleep, despite the fact that it had only been a couple of hours  
ago.  
  
His eyes... Storm still shivered as she thought of what they looked  
like. They were so empty...  
  
"*Storm!*"  
  
She jolted in surprise to see Daniel standing behind her. Her eyes  
narrowed, "I thought you were going to see if'n you could find  
Dana."  
  
"We've found her. A few people are trying to figure out whether  
it's best to go in after her or wait."  
  
"Wait?!" Storm was on her feet in an instant, eyes blazing and the  
irises nearly black with her anger. "You have no idea what she's  
going through in there, Daniel Armstrong. No idea at *all*."  
  
He was instantly calm. "What *are* they doing to her, Storm?  
That's just the first of a list of questions I have to ask you."  
  
"What right do you have to ask that of me?" she glared at him  
while raging inside.  
  
"I need all the information you can give on this matter," Daniel  
responded in that same calm voice. "We need to know how best  
to treat her after we get her out. You know that as well as we do,  
Storm, so why are you acting like this?"  
  
"Because I was inside Dana's head, and you *know* how much I  
hate that," Storm responded quickly, suddenly wishing that Flynn  
was here. When she and Flynn had taken a hiatus from the  
Bureau after the fire, she had no idea where it would have led  
them.  
  
The last she had heard from her partner, he was stuck in a  
cornfield in Nebraska, and a flicker from his end of their  
connection told her that he was still there, thinking that there might  
be answers there that couldn't be found elsewhere.  
  
He would be there soon, but until then, she was on her own.  
  
Slowly, she turned, settling her gaze on Daniel's calmness. She  
spared a glance to make sure she hadn't awakened Mulder, but it  
was like he was unconscious. He was finally in a blissful sleep,  
and Storm suddenly knew that Dana was near him somehow.  
After the dream she had had, that was the only conclusion she  
could draw.  
  
"So? Are you going to answer me?"  
  
She didn't take her eyes off her half-brother as she answered,  
"They've impregnated her, Daniel. I don't know whether it's a  
entirely human child that's been manipulated genetically or  
something... not entirely human..."  
  
"What?"   
  
Storm didn't have to turn to see the shocked look on Daniel's face.  
Part of her was childishly glad at that, glad that she was able to  
break through that calm facade that he had been showing her.  
She also withheld the other thing that she had suspicions about,  
especially after the way Mulder felt. His mind was a wreck with  
several different abilities being forced open by some sort of device  
that affected the brain.  
  
Not that they wouldn't have opened on their own, but those things  
happened in their own time. She wanted to kill Them with her  
bare hands for the things that had been done. She let out a sigh.  
  
"I respected you once, Daniel. Once you showed that you were a  
human being, that you had emotions. Now you've become one  
who calculates every move without care for the people involved.  
You already knew that at the very least, Dana and Mulder had  
had their minds raped, yet you force information out of me. How  
did you get to be so much like them, Daniel, overnight?"  
  
"I couldn't deal with what I saw, so I closed out all emotions after  
I left tonight. That's the one thing I learned while I was there.  
Even empaths have to have an off switch, Storm."  
  
"I wish I could find mine."  
  
"Rickster wanted to be sure, since I left him there to get Dana. I  
needed to get all the information I could, Storm, and I'm sorry.  
We do what we have to in order to save people, and afterwards,  
we heal our own wounds as we try to help them heal theirs. How  
could you have forgotten *that*?" his voice was mildly chiding,  
and Storm bowed her head slightly.  
  
"I know, but there's so much pain here, and it's been a long time  
since it's cut this close. It's drawn blood this time, Danny. My  
blood..."  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"That Mulder was my brother?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Starr let out a little piece of information the last time Flynn and I  
were in town, and we did some DNA typing simply because my  
sister is not exactly the most reliable source in the world."  
  
Daniel chuckled at the truth of that.  
  
"So when we got the tests back, they matched. It didn't surprise  
our friends, but it surely surprised us. Hasn't changed how we  
treat each other very much, but I'm more protective of him, and  
vice versa. Mulder is so much a family person..."  
  
"Even after what his father did?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
Just then, Daniel froze, and his expression went totally blank.  
Storm stopped and waited. Somehow, she sensed that there was  
not going to be good news coming. After a moment, the  
expression that returned to Daniel's eyes confirmed her fears.  
  
"Daniel?"  
  
"She's gone."  
  
"What?!"  
  
***************  
  
It was now that she felt truly lost. Scully travelled the dark  
passages that were either dark alley streets or the darkness of her  
own mind. She knew what they had done to her, and was trying  
to shield herself from it. Sometimes knowledge was power, yet  
also that same knowledge could have the power to kill.  
  
Thoughts that weren't her own bombarded her from all sides, and  
she forced strength into her waning walls to try and keep those  
voices out. She needed control now, since there was no place  
safe for her to break down. She sought safety when there was no  
safety to be found.  
  
There was a path she was following, a pull that she sensed would  
eventually lead her to the safety that she sought. Then she could  
heal, and try to figure out what she was to do if what she heard  
was correct. Impregnated. It sounded like such a cold term for  
something that is usually regarded with love and affection between  
two people.  
  
A miracle, only one that was corrupted. She hated them for doing  
this to her, and at the first opportunity, she would take all of them  
down, in whatever fashion was most fitting. The law enforcement  
officer wanted to see justice through the courts while the woman,  
the woman held deep inside who is Dana, wanted to see them all  
dead before her eyes.  
  
She found the place she sought, and reached up to knock, or to  
pull the doors open, only to find that they opened of their own free  
will. The pull got stronger and she followed. There was a newly  
replaced flight of stairs that she climbed, and as she turned one of  
the many corners in this more humane labyrinth, she knew what  
the pull was.  
  
Mulder...  
  
Finally, she found him, and pushed open the door. As he lay there  
sleeping, she stood watching him from the doorway, feeling the  
connection between them leap and buzz into existance once more.  
She felt him stir within her mind, but for a few moments she just  
watched him lay there. Even in sleep, forced unconsciousness  
though it was, he looked lost. As lost as she truly had been when  
she had been driven to seek him here.  
  
As lost, even, as she felt now.  
  
She ran a hand through tangled red hair, and felt it fall in wavy  
curls around her shoulders. How long had they been gone for her  
hair to have grown to this length and in such a fashion? It barely  
felt to her to be a day.  
  
Then again, she herself recalled how time seemed to be as twisted  
as the place itself. She wrapped her arms around her, seeing the  
white thing that she had been clothed in back there. Ever since  
this began, she had felt unable to cry, for him, for her, for them...  
but in watching him now, she had to resist the urge.  
  
The pain cut so deep, cut both of them to the point where they  
were open and bleeding inside, with no knowledge on how to heal  
these wounds.  
  
Only together would they find the answers. Only together, would  
they be able to heal from this. He was still weak, and for that  
matter, she was still elsewhere. However, all that she was,  
beyond the physical, sought him here. Needed to be with him,  
almost as though deep down inside they were one person and had  
just forgotten.  
  
What had they done to her? What had they done to him? Hell,  
what had they done to *them*? Would this event break them  
apart, or make them stronger?  
  
Stronger... stronger... came a whisper at the back of her mind,  
and she knew it was him.  
  
With stumbling steps that felt like she was trying to learn to walk  
again, in this form, she made her way to the bed, and then, leaning  
in almost as though she were truly physical at this point, she ran a  
translucent hand over his arm and watched the gooseflesh rise at  
the touch.  
  
[I'm here, Mulder. I'm here.]  
  
She had heard him calling out to her, in the pain, and had felt the  
pull. For six years, she had done all that was in her power to  
resist the pull to him, fearing that she would get lost in such a way  
that she would never find herself.  
  
Over time, though, she had forgotten, that although they were  
separate people, without each other, they were truly lost. It had  
taken this event to remind her, and now that she had been  
reminded, she would not allow it to happen again.  
  
So this time, instead of fighting that pull, she had followed it, and  
found herself here.  
  
With a sigh, she crawled into bed behind him, and heard a whisper  
of her name. Whether it was purely mental or actually whispered,  
she wasn't sure, but it didn't matter. And there, wrapped around  
him so tightly that you couldn't tell where he ended and she began,  
Scully finally found the release for tears that had been threatening.  
  
There, she found peace, and was finally able to rest. In the  
morning, that's where Daniel and Storm found her, laying curled  
around Mulder's prone body, almost as though her body had  
followed the spirit to where they were both needed.  
  
Now, and only now, could the healing truly start.  
  
**********************  
  
-End-  
  
  



End file.
